Industries that demand high levels of performance from welded steel fabrications (e.g. high pressure gas pipelines) find that as steel grades increase, it is more challenging to achieve welds of required levels and consistency of strength and toughness due to the greater performance variation with seemingly small changes in welding process conditions. A major technological challenge is achieving the necessary weld properties with sufficient reliability and consistency to ensure weld performance using a broad enough range of welding processes for the existing production conditions and contractor capabilities.
Simple transfer of technologies from previously used lower grade materials it not likely to achieve the desired weld performance for new higher grade steels and the alteration of the methods used to optimize the weld qualities for use with new materials has been an endeavor in trial and error. A method for achieving the necessary level of control over essential welding variables, such as welding consumable design, weld joint dimensions, welding power source and setup, and welding torch configuration, in new welding applications is needed.